TiddlyWiki First device?

#1

Folks, I thought I may share my jouney here and seek feedback or comments. Here in Australia its the end of financial years sales and I am looking at filling out my portfolio of devices. I have am fortunate to have a desktop (intel NUC needs monitor KB/mouse) a tablet and mobile phone and a few older laptops that need recycling.

I simply raise this here to solicit ideas for people selecting a device with a view to getting the most out of tiddlywiki which has a low resource demand.

I travel a lot for weeks at a time (House sitting) and thought its time to make use of the sales to get a minimalist laptop around $300 AUD primarily for TiddlyWiki since they have keyboard and Screen built in. I have not owned a Chrome Book, and very (including professionaly) expierenced with windows.

  • Primarily for when I need to do something beyond phone/tablet, visiting friends, or on short stop overs. I can use my phone or an internet hotspot or local wifi.
  • Web cam mic etc… for quick online meetings.

What do you think about a good “TiddlyWiki First” device?

  • Touch screen?

Posible devices HP

14" HD (1366 x 768) 60Hz TN display

Intel Core Celeron N4500 Dual core processor (1.1 - 2.8GHz)

128GB eMMC Storage with 4GB RAM

Intel UHD graphics

1 x HDMI port

1 x USB 2.0 port

1 x USB 3.2 port

1 x USB-C 3.2 port

SD card reader

Webcam

Bluetooth v5.2

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax)

Windows 11 Home S

or

ASUS 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) LED for $50 more

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#2

If you want feedback for hardware specs, you should probably post more listings or at least link to them. And also consider the fact that used hardware prices can vary by region, so opinions on the pricing aspect can be variably biased.

I would not call TiddlyWiki “having a low resource demand”. While you could run a Linux distro with a lightweight window manager, which will be certainly not as heavy as Windows 10/11, you’d still need a full featured modern web browser, which is by no means low resource.

Now, some feedback about the spec you posted.

(1366 x 768) 60Hz TN display

To me this is a Windows XP era display. Since this is a laptop, it is paired with other similar hardware - a VERY outdated CPU, 4GB RAM which is a joke, slow eMMC - much slower than SSD.

300AUD seems like 200USD.

AFAIK, the common consensus even for running Windows 10 (and I think Windows 10 gets dumped by Microsoft in a few months anyway) on minimal specs is a 8th gen i5 (not crippled Celeron) or similar AMD CPU, at least 8GB (preferably 16GB) RAM, so swapping doesn’t maul your SSD.

I don’t know about Australia, but in US you could likely get a Thinkpad T480 for 200USD, or add some more and look for a gen1 or gen 2 T14, preferably with an AMD CPU. If low weight is a top priority, rather look for an X1 Carbon, but they are more expensive for same hardware specs, and RAM is soldered.

#3

The ones I looked at were already windows 11 and new. I have not found Browsers with heavy resource usage, in fact have in the past configured browsers to use more of the available RAM, as they are usually trying to leave room for other apps, that I don’t need so much.

  • So when browsers have more RAM resources they don’t need to swap to storage.
  • My desktop is 32-64GB so I always have that if needed (No need yet to move to 64GB)

so if I had dozens of single file wikis and a few node ones I doubt I would need 1gb

I am with you on the screen resolution

#4

4 gb ram is not enough!
As you might remember, I am a fan of old Thinkpads. I am not using Windows - but linux Mint. I find that 8gb ram is tolerable - more is always preferable.
I like that they are modular - can easily have parts exchanged - (The old ones). Cheaper to find one that previous owner has maxed out. All sorts of extras. The last one I bought 5 years ago

#5

Since you are not my worst enemy, I wouldn’t recommend an HP anything. This is the company that is currently attempting to charge subscription fees for printers.

Apparently 3 out of 4 Tiddlywiki users recommend Thinkpads.

If your use case is that you plan to be house-sitting, won’t these places already have monitors available? You can get a Beelink Mini-12 with higher specs and better prices. It’s just a little box that won’t take much luggage space. A mini keyboard and standard mouse can be tucked in without problems.

Also, if you really want to get a machine with low specs, maybe it’s time to think about Linux. It’s never been easier to install, and the experience can be very similar to windows. It’s also never been easier to dual boot, since MS has stopped (I hope) clobbering shared Linux installations, as long as the Linux install goes after the Windows install.

#6

I’ve recently swtiched to a RaspberryPi4, the 8GB model, running off an SSD. Small footprint, small price, works great for me.

#7

I was initially considering Raspberry pi for a home server. But then I found that they were no longer that much cheaper than actual mini computers, which have a standard Amd architecture, an actual (solid state) hard drive (instead of an SSD card), and generally higher specs.

Of course, prices are going to vary by location, so YMMV.

#8

The Pi can boot off of an SSD drive, no SD card. The Pi4 model needs no fan and so is totally quiet and has very low electricity use. I’m learning as I go, but so far the Pi is set up with Traefik and OpenCloud as well as TWs on node.js, all facing out to the internet so I as well as the team I work with can access them from anywhere. When I set up the Pi, I used a big external screen and there were no problems at all. Now it’s running headless and I access it from my other devices. So far so good.

#9

I may not have made it clear when I said “TiddlyWiki First” I mean primarily just for TiddlyWiki and unlike my Hi spec Mini no “KVM” required, although I will add a mouse to it.

The ones I looked at were already windows 11 and new. I have not found Browsers with heavy resource usage, in fact have in the past configured them to use more of the available RAM, as they are usualy trying to leave room for other apps, that I dont need so much.

  • So when they have more RAM resources they dont need to swap to storage.
  • My desktop is 32-64GB so I always have that if needed (No need yet to move to 64GB)

The reason I want a laptop is for use on the road, in the garden, in bed and hostels for quick access, I have my desktop for more than enough performance.

I have found an 8GB RAM/265SSD 14" IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200. Intel Celeron Cel-N150 processor and other versions.

  • for an addtional $70

This sounds like a safe choice but do think it could be lower spec

#10

THIS far better. More expensive yes - but getting a not satisfactory one - will end up more expensive in the long run. The screen is also much better on this one.

Upgrading my Thinkpads - I have seen two identical laptops. And then the one upgraded from 4 gb ram to 8gb ram - and ssd harddrive. Running them side by side afterwards - absolutely no comparison.

Good luck!

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#11

It seems to me that you’ve already made up your mind. But let me put this out there as a different approach, which I used last year on my first and maybe only travel abroad.

  • A tablet (8 inch, Amazon kindle with side-loaded playstore).
  • A folding tablet stand. Sometimes supplemented with a tissue box for height.
  • A hand strap for the tablet
  • Wireless mouse
  • Small footprint wireless (B/T) keyboard

This can definitely run TiddlyWiki.

The beauty of this system is that you can set up your “office” on any available table space. With the hand strap you can use the tablet in bed. The tablet can run most of a day on a 100% charge, and is light enough to carry in your day pack, so you don’t have to worry about it back in the hostel/hotel. Although the screen is small, you are also closer to the screen than on a laptop. I think a 9" screen is the sweet spot between portability and usability, but 8" works pretty well.

#12

How performant is this kind of hardware? My smarphone has a Helio G35 CPU, my biggest encrypted wiki is about 12MB. With autosave on, every time I save a tiddler, the whole wiki gets re-encrypted, it takes 15+ seconds while the screen stays frozen, and it just makes me sad. I did not make too much fuss about it in forum, since I’m not planning to get another device in the near future as long as this one works, but I would certainly benefit from learning more about which minimal and average hardware specs are considered ok-ish by other TiddlyWiki users for such a scenario.

#13

The particular model (Kindle Fire 8, 12 gen) I’ve mentioned here would be considered low end by tablet standards. I’m sure a samsung tablet would have better performance, but at a cost approximating that of a laptop.

I must have used the tablet to update my “Big book” (11.1 megs) regularly, but locally, since that’s part of my routine.

Pulling the same file via Tailscale and a local server took about 10 seconds by the highly scientific self-counting method. It then took about 4 seconds to decrypt.

It’s hard to compare hardware performance on small devices, since they use so many different chip technologies.

The only constant is, no matter the platform, get as much memory you can.

#14

This is not only about me but a discussion that may guide others in the future. I already have a high end desktop, an Android tablet and older large format aging Laptops/desktops. After all I have had a career in I.T.

So this is raising an importiant note that if you need and rely on encryption you may need a higher performance device.

I wonder what if you are using https to a server?

#15

if you need and rely on encryption you may need a higher performance device.

Exactly, and my problem is I don’t have enough data points about it, since this topic doesn’t seem to show up often in forum. For example if I wanted each wiki save to take no more than 3 seconds and have a window of the wiki eventually growing in size twice - to 20-25 MB, what CPU should I look for in a smartphone? There are gaming beasts with flagship Snapdragon or Dimensity CPUs, but I don’t know how reasonable is to plan getting one of those, not to mention they aren’t exactly cheap (which is a problem for a third world country).

#16

Can you look at a tiddler level encryption for only critical data. However when local there is no accross the wired/air to worry about, and https can help there?

#17

My use case is using a local single HTML (encrypted) file. Doesn’t the local saving lag come not just because the tiddlers get encrypted, but because they get encrypted with multiple iterations, unlike during HTTPS data transfer?

#18

My whole personal knowledge base is private, critical data, I don’t want it to hit storage, unless it is encrypted. In fact, one of the main reasons why I started to use TiddlyWiki is that it offers full encryption. On a Linux desktop, I’ve been using Tomb | Tomb: The Linux Crypto Undertaker for many years, but unfortunately it won’t run on non-rooted Android. TiddlyWiki became the life saver.

#19

An update on this project is that I have put aside the purchase of a laptop and investigating using my Android table with mouse and keyboard.

Interestingly my Lenovo Tablet has more ram and similar storage to many low cost laptops 8GB ram /128 storage. I will also look at external storage. Other advantages;

  • USB C charging with no power block
  • On screen keyboard for quick tasks, touch screen and pen
  • Less power consumption so easy to charge from an external power pack, in the car etc…
    • I wonder if I can charge and use a usb hub at the same time, mostly to access storage?
  • Using a portable external bluetooth speaker delivers better audio even than laptop built in speakers, and I have one already.
  • I expect Andriod tablet to Android Mobile and to Windows may be quite easy.
    • researching

Possible Performance enhancements for TiddlyWiki on a tablet?

  • Setup wikis with external core
  • Publish a wiki via node to the network (did before with Termux on Android) to access on Desktop when available.
  • Use local storage plugin to save imediate changes and manualy save wiki as needed

So I have started testing the use of TiddlyWiki on my tablet and todo so thought I would connect the tablet to my Desktop, now phone and found it (Lenovo tablet) comes with a very good set of cross device intergrations. Apart from there general value I have discovered;

  • I can use a TiddlyWiki on my tablet interactivly from the computer thus no need to make the wikis accessible via the file system or wifi. Still testing.
#20

There is also RCX and WebDAV FS to serve up your local file, which is simpler than setting up termux. Also WebDAV FS sets up SSL so (hopefully) your communication can be secure on the router. Except it will serve up to anyone on the router. So you will want to encrypt your wikis.

These complications are why you might want an external server, such as TiddlyHost or Github. But if you have a home machine you can leave running then you can serve up either Node or a single file (via webdav) using Tailscale, and only you and your devices can see the connection.

Syncthing is the other solution, and it works really well. You leave it running on your home server and your tablet, and your files are always in sync. In my experience it takes very few resources. You can either shut down the home server or leave it running. It is probably the most practical solution, since it allows you to work without a connection.

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